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I'm working on it. Have you read his other book? Guns Germs and Steel?
It is also excellent, it is one of only three books that I have borrowed
from the library and then had to buy subsequently, he beats Dawkins two
to one on that score. I think you will find this one less of a downer
but still an unputdowner, if you pardon the pun.
Martin
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I would have bought that too, but a review said that he took
the whole book to say what he did in one chapter of TTC. I'm sure
I'll get around to it.
Actually I'm not so much in need of cheering up as I am
anxious. The same way I felt when I heard about Kansas in '99.
I am now reading The Language Instinct. It's been a little
hard to get into it since language doesn't seem as profound as basic
survival. Maybe Pinker will change my mind before I'm through.
Mark
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Douglas Adams
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A few weeks ago my 14 year old told me he was reading HHGG
and related books. I guess I was about that age when I began my
Kurt Vonnegut stage. Since he's been rather depressed lately about
missing his friends from the states, I was a little hesitant to
mention THE NEWS. How are you taking it?
Still waiting on your reply to allay my fears of ice-age.
Did I stump you?
Mark
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I can't take it all in at once. Rather like Arthur Dent thinking about
there being no more Earth. I am swinging a bit between taking it all very
calmly and being wiped out by it.
He was a great genius with language, not in a classical way, far more
discordant. Douglas Adams was to the English language what Jimi Hendrix
was to the guitar. I think that would have made him smile.
I do have a lot more to say but not enough time to say it, quite a common
problem these days for our species.
Sorry about the erratic nature of the communication recently. Normal
service should be resumed shortly. I have put the following link on the
site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/
you may find it interesting. It might be possible to receive Radio 4
directly on the longwave in Lithuania, especially if you have a good antenna
system, if I were you I would see if I could get hold of an old car radio,
connect the case to a good ground (we British say "earth", but I am bilingual)
and the antenna (aerial) to something very long and conductive, like a
wire fence. A car radio should have an antenna trimmer circuit (probably
a small screw on the front) and should be well shielded from stray signals.
The transmitter is based in Droitwich in the Midlands and operates at
500,000 watts at 198 kHz. If that doesn't work you can listen via Real
Player online, but that would only be practical if nobody is metering
or monitoring your web usage.
On the back burner:
What does it take to cross the line into greed?
Is a rock star greedy just because he gets rich?
Am I greedy if I buy a pirate CD for $2.50 instead of paying
full price?
Is an athlete greedy when he negotiates the best contract
he can?
If the athlete changes teams to get the best contract and
disappoints his (former) hometown fans, is he now greedy? Is either
one greedy if he keeps more money than he needs to live comfortably
(and doesn't donate the rest to some needy cause--like my comfort)?
Is a businessman greedy if he charges as much as he can for
a product?
Does it make a difference if this product isn't necessary
for survival?
Is it greedy not to give money (or food so it doesn't go
to alcohol) to a begger on the street?
Is it greedy for a doctor to take vacation when there are
sick people?
Is it greedy for a government to spend money on a space station
when people are starving?
Definite greed: When a polluter doesn't spend the money
needed to prevent his discharges from harming others. What if this
expense puts him out of business? (I guess he won't pollute anymore.)
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At this point the chronology gets even harder to unravel and subjects
very mixed up as I launch the quiz, and quiz questions, answers
and guessed answers send the correspondence all over the place.
I have deleted most quiz related emails but some spark off some
ideas so just bear with us through this bit.
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Why do Americans put the stresses in different places compared to the
English? e.g. Happy NOOyear. RObinhood whereas the English
tend to sound out each syllable much more evenly. But then we have that
strange EEOOO syllable in new, tuna and the like. When I
was in the States I tried to think how to correct the 'poor pronunciation'
of the yanks but I realized it was me that was strangling the vowel.
Is there such a thing as accentless English? I don't imagine there is,
I suppose educated Canadians come closest to the centre (not center) of
gravity for World English. What
about making Steven Pinker the Dictator-for-Life in the Academy of World
English?
Pork rinds eh? We have Pork Scratchings, I guess they are much the same,
are your rinds all crunchy or do they have some damp and fatty bits in?
I love pork scratchings, heavily salted and seasoned, a heart attack in
a bag. I don't suppose they feature much in Jewish culture. Shame, I remember
being 15 or so and buying a bottle of Strongbow cider and a bag of Mr
Porky Pork Scratchings from the corner shop, that was it, I was a man.
I really want to tell you the right answer but I shall be strong.
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I think my accent is neutral (don't we all). However, having
lived in New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania,
and now Lithuania, I am a one man melting pot. I find that when
I visit the folks in New Jersey I get a little of my northeast twang
back. In the states, the mid-west news anchorman accent is generally
described as neutral.
If Pinker were dictator, he would probably require keeping
the accents you and me have and encourage change in the language
rather than standardization.
Our pork rinds come in a spectrum of textures, ranging from
the over processed homogeneous consistency of a light pretzel to
the lumpier version you describe. I seem to remember hearing of
some industrial type use for the skins such as brake pads. I guess
I'll have to wait.
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Holding Pigs Together
OK, I'll make a new rule, not to give away more than one answer per person
per quiz. By the way you are currently second, out of two. A little joke
for you. What happens if you play country music records backwards?
. . . Your dog scrapes himself off the highway, your ex-wife walks in
and you get back that job you hated.
My accent is very neutral. Sometimes people say to me "you're not from
around here are you?" Err, well, only for the last five generations, I
am not so sure beyond that point.
My parents have very neutral accents too, English certainly, Northern
English, yes, but you would have difficulty saying much more. My
wife took elocution lessons, so she does not sound like the rest of
her family, it didn't make her sound "posh" but just softened the local
accent quite significantly. She has a very sexy voice, I have suggested
that she could cash in on it by recording some for premium rate phone
sex lines, but she never takes me up on it.
My wife just read this out to me from the local newspaper... Adult Chat
Staff. Self employed to work from home. Best rates paid weekly. No outlay...
As I said, it is a standing joke in our house that she should cash in
on her sexy voice. But I don't think she'll take the job.
I had missed hitting some of your serves. I think this analogy needs
exploring. On newsgroups people play to win, they serve up fierce aces
and drop their lobs just over the net when you are at full stretch at
the other end of the court. We are not playing a zero sum game here, we
are playing pit-pat, but we are still having fun and getting exercise.
Too much of life is played as a zero-sum game, let's kick off our macho
shoes and get down to some touchy-feely stuff. You can't expand your mind
by showing it is bigger than the next man's, that is a stupid way to act.
Debate like this, when we are in broad agreement, but can still question
the fine details, is the best way.
Ice Ages
I am not sure about this one. I think if we did enter a new ice age there
would be profound changes to human life on Earth, probably as big an impact
on society as anything we can imagine. Britain would be profoundly affected
by any change in ocean currents, even if there was no advancing glaciers,
which last time they came made quite an impact on northern England, to
the point that the geography in my area is totally opaque without a knowledge
of the effects of glacial erosion and the effect of glacial meltwater.
Britain depends on warm water currents. Without them Britain would have
a climate much more like Southern Alaska, which occupies similar latitudes
on the Eastern edge of an ocean. Now I don't know a lot about these areas
but I can't recall any rich agricultural areas or thriving metropolises
either, I don't think they support a very high population density, despite
having a large proportion of their native flora and fauna intact, unlike
Britain.
An ice age would be survivable, but it would also certainly be the end
of life as we know it. Our technology is such that we will find a way
to survive, at least some of us will, but what form that survival would
take is very difficult to guess. A lot will depend on the speed of the
onset. Something that is instantaneous by geological standards would still
take a very long time by the standards of contemporary world politics
and science. The hardest thing to do would be to avoid falling into war.
A profound change in the climate, in either direction, would lead to an
increased need for energy, which might not be backed with the appropriate
legitimate means to pay. The vision of the USA without the oil it thinks
it needs and deserves and with the military might to steal it would be
a profoundly dangerous set of circumstances. Perhaps this makes the need
for a world government, or at the very least a much stronger degree of
international co-operation, an urgent priority. In a world fighting for
survival religion would be a very dangerous thing.
Religion could help reinforce the calls of national and sectional interests
in the fight for survival. An interesting thing to contemplate is the
change in the balance of power between continents, a cooler Earth would
have less of an impact in the tropics, perhaps Africa and tropical South
America would fare the best in the new world order?
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Got a letter from Mike, the first person ever to respond
to Letters of Mark. I spend 20 minutes responding and the email
got lost by deja. More proof that there is a god who's out to get
me.
I told Mike I should have complained to you that the reprint
if the chart was too small to show the necessary detail. Maybe put
in a link for a bigger version so readers don't have to wait for
it to load unless they want to.
Thanks for the effort you continue to put into the site.
Thought ewe mite like this bee cause of your spell checker
peeve.
Spell Check
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
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Things get a bit confusing with the messages mixed up with quiz
answers. I have missed off those that don't throw much light on
interesting issues.
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I'm glad you got the bear one, I was a little worried that it might fall
flat., I didn't do any homework on it, I just saw the Californian flag
and thought about bears, what other bears come to mind?
I'm also glad the golf question worked, my golf experience is limited
to playing on courses featuring models of windmills and see-saws. Mathematics
and sport in one question, it was a tough one for me.
I was racking my brains for new quiz questions and my children were
watching The Wizard of Oz on video... I need a question.. I need a question..
when a voice sang What puts the ape in apricot? Terrific. I have
used it as a teaser for a new newsgroup posting around a few selected
groups. Was that easy or hard to look up? How much stuff did it come
up with? What else did you learn on the way to the right answer?
the Wizard of Oz is the movie I have seen more
than any other movie and therefore must be my favorite movie. Umm.
Some irony in there perhaps?
I'll take white as your final answer and so leave your score the same.
What I was hinting at was why don't you search for "Manchester United,
1968, European cup, final" or something of the sort then you would probably
have found a picture of Bobby Charlton and George Best with a big cup
and nice blue shirts.
I understand that NFL teams wear white when they play away from home,
good simple system. In proper football each team keeps one or two reserve
strips in case the regular strip clashes. Normally it is the visiting
team that changes, but in a final played on a neutral ground the teams
toss a coin to see who has the choice of strip. In the 1966 world cup
final England lost the toss and had to change out of our usual white shirts
(W. Germany play in white shirts, black shorts, England in white shirts
and navy blue shorts, not much contrast, especially on black and white
TV) so England won the cup in a red strip. Since then there has been an
idea going around that the red strip is lucky.
A few years ago the same thing happened again but this time our reserve
strip was blue-grey (a marketing ploy, it goes well with denim and so
was expected to sell more replica shirts) we lost on penalties, and the
silly media blamed the shirts. The England reserve strip will probably
always be red now. Manchester United will, however continue their policy
of bringing out new alternative (away and third) strips every few months
in order to generate more sales of replica shirts. Why did I tell you
all that?
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> the Wizard of Oz is the movie I have seen more than > any
other movie and therefore must be my favorite movie. > > Umm. Some
irony in there perhaps?
I must be dense this morning. Please explain the irony.
I understand that NFL teams wear white when they play away
from home, good simple system. Actually, it is up to the home team
whether they wear their white or colored shirts. In baseball the
home team wears white (or pinstripe) with their team name or logo
(Mets) on front and the away team wears gray with the city (New
York) on front.
I'm glad you continue to make the effort to continuously
improve the site. I read your rant
and agree with most of it. I too have to reach for the blood pressure
medicine when I get nothing after a three minute download. However,
don't swing the pendulum too far the other way. There is nothing
wrong with a few color pictures peppered throughout a page. It breaks
things up and makes for a more pleasant read. Small pics don't take
too much space and don't add significantly to download time. Usually
the text comes through first anyway, allowing me to start reading
before all the pictures come through (this may be different with
different browsers). I checked out the title page and it appears
a little too stark. Some color graphics would help (they don't have
to move).
Just did Paris and Rome. Maybe it was the perfect early summer
weather, but those fertile French women certainly have a racial
benefit (French babes are best).
Invented a new word (ala Language Instinct) binocularizeable
As in: That French babe over there sure is binocularizeable! (Sorry,
no color graphics)
Dear, let's turn on the light in our bedroom and improve
our binocularizeability.
I'm trying to put myself in a new visitor's mouse and I
need direction. Suggest you put that "Where do I start" or "Read
this First" link back on the main page. Have that link to a few
of your favorite articles in each of the main sections.
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I'm trying to get used to the lack of colors other
than blue. It has the potential to grow on me. You know, Picasso
went through the same phase and look where it got him!
(Maybe a quiz question in there somewhere? What
is this painting an example of ?)
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I will let you in on one answer. Close but no cigar on OSCAR 0. OSCAR
1 was the first artificial satellite carrying amateur radio, which allows
low powered VHF amateur stations to make otherwise impossible long distance
contacts, by extension OSCAR 0 is the moon, used by very rich radio amateurs
with very impressive VHF systems to bounce signals from. Most use four
to eight large yagi arrays on azimuth and elevation controlled antenna
arrays, which look like the multiple steerable anti-aircraft gun emplacements
on a warship, and maximum permitted (or available) power in order to communicate
by morse. If you have a really decent antenna, like Jodrel Bank's 200
foot dish, you could do the same with a taxi or CB radio. All you then
need is somebody else with another dish of a similar gain listening in,
which, because of length of the transmission path, could be yourself.
Naturally you don't have to be able to see the moon, just know where it
is. Boys will play...
Thanks for the picture. Perfect for the quiz, I recognized it straight
away and I am no beret wearing art lover.
I think I made the right choice by painting my palette blue and grey.
It is easy on the eye, it avoids unintended colour clashes. I know my
limits with regard to colour, this artificially imposed limit should ensure
that I don't do anything stupid by mistake, and it also gives the site
more identity and blends seamlessly with the rest of the screen furniture,
as most people use some kind of grey colour scheme for their operating
system and browser. By using a sky background for the logo I am emphasizing
that the choice of palette is deliberate, not coincidence or due to a
lack of imagination. I have never met anybody who doesn't like blue.
Where do I start? Excellent suggestion. I'll get on to it.
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(Response to Need to Know, about the car in a loop.)
Why do you doubt Mike, the Meme Machine Quiz Meister?
First of all, the weight of the car doesn't matter (you
knew that, didn't you?).
My physics went past age 14, but I still rely on looking
up equations. Fortunately, I am the searchmeister and found: http://library.thinkquest.org/20991/gather/formula/data/189.html
Which says the equation is: RCF (in g forces) = 1.119x10^-5
x rpm^2 x radius (in cm)
Since we are solving for one g, and the radius of a one
kilometer track is 15,915 cm, rpm solves as: 2.370 revolutions per
minute, or 142.2 revolutions per hour. Since the track is one kilometer,
the speed is 142.2 kph.
The equation also says that you have over two seconds to
swing a one foot deep bucket around to keep the water from falling
on your head: RCF=1 Radius=122 cm (3 foot arm plus one foot bucket)
rpm=27.1 rev per sec=0.45 seconds per rev=2.22 Please try this at
home!! Measure your radius. Then give Martin Jr a stopwatch while
dad swings the bucket. Start out fast, and slow down until things
begin to slosh. Keep the rhythm and start timing. The hard part
will be to keep a steady speed.
Do you distinguish between haggling and negotiating? AKA
I feel like lecturing today.
Say Martin has a new product. He doesn't know what its value
is until he tests it in the market. He knows it cost him $100 to
manufacture, but how much profit is he entitled to? 10%, 50%? Say
a 10% profit will give him an annual income of $50,000 if he sells
5000. But a 50% profit means he only has to sell 1000 and he can
only make 1000 in a year--so he charges $150.
Now say I need that product. If I buy it, it will save me
$100 per year over any alternatives. If it lasts 10 years, it will
earn me a total of $1000. Or, in more rigorous terms, an investment
of $197 in this product will earn me 50% per year return on my investment
over the ten years. If it costs me $419 my annual return is still
20%, better than any bank account and most mutual funds.
I go to the store and I can get this thing for $150! I was
willing to pay over $200, maybe even $400! Boy is that Martin a
sucker, he doesn't know the value of what he is selling! Okay, pretty
quickly Martin discovers that people are buying these things quicker
than he can make them. He eventually finds that if he charges $400
($399.95), his production can keep up with demand. In a year, Martin
has $300,000 cash he can use to expand production to 5000 per year.
Eventually, Mike sees what is happening and decides to get
into the act. He shows some numbers to a bank and they give him
a loan of $300,000 to produce 4000 of these things a year. Being
no dummy, he is going to charge $349.99, undercutting Martin and
still make a tidy profit.
By now ten years have past and I need a new one. Martin has
taken early retirement (maybe he isn't such a sucker after all)
and his son now runs the business. Steve just left the shop, buying
one after seeing the list price of $399.95. I have been looking
around and tell Martin junior that I can get the same thing in Mike's
new shop in the next town for $349.99. Martin Jr, since he is in
the trade, has been following Mike's activities but doesn't know
what his price will be. We haggle--I mean negotiate a little and
settle on a price of $329.95. Is this a crime? (Maybe, if Mike infringed
on Martin's patent--but this is already getting too complicated
so we won't go there.) The next day, Martin Jr. lists his price
at $299.95. Should Martin Jr. track down Steve and give him back
$70, $100? What was the fair price of the product? Should Martin
Jr. have stood his ground and lost the sale and waited until I left
the store to mark down the price? How do know what a fair price
is until someone is willing to pay it?
You want it both ways. Prices can change, but not if a customer
asks for the change. I shouldn't have to tell you that a sale is
a two way street. It's okay for you to mark up prices when demand
is high, but not okay for you to mark down a price when a customer
reminds you you are overcharging? In the long term, if a product
is a commodity, and everybody wants it and anybody can make it,
the price will settle out to be the cost of production. But for
most consumer items, the market is in unsteady state and the only
way to determine its price is by the individual interactions between
buyer and seller.
Sorry for my rambling about supply and demand. I'm sure you
know it all, but once I started typing I couldn't stop and it seemed
a waste not to send it once I typed it, so I sent it.
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Sometimes haggling is appropriate and sometimes it is just a way for
some people to pay less than other people for the same thing.
I resent charging my nice customers more than the bastards. That is the
reality. The best people I deal with listen to my advice and buy on the
basis of the advice I offer, take the extended guarantees at full price,
pay delivery charges and do not expect reductions in price when they chose
to take the display model rather than wait for the boxed one I want them
to take. All those charges are fair and are openly published. However
all are haggled over by some people.
Discount for cash is the usual refrain. As if it matters how they
pay. It matters nothing to me or anybody at the branch I work at how they
pay, apart from the fact that people who sign up for instore credit earn
the company more profit and make me more commission. What is this crap
about cash? Yesterday I had a woman blathering on about a delivery being
late and saying that she paid cash, as if that entitles her to preferential
treatment, as if we would deliberately screw up our customer service to
a customer who didn't pay cash!
The reality is that these people are asking for preferential treatment
and for me to treat them as special because they and their money are worth
more than the other, nicer, customers. This is my complaint. If prices
are fixed for one they should be fixed for all, if they are negotiable
all should be invited to negotiate.
In North African markets every price is considered negotiable, so everybody
wastes half their trading hours talking nonsense that nobody believes.
The best systems are fully transparent and free from bullshit, on the
floors of stock markets two prices are offered, buy price and sell price,
everybody just cuts through the verbal diarrhoea and makes a fair bargain.
That works, and it works well.
Yesterday I dealt with a customer who was a salesman's dream. A man with
money in his pocket (well, platinum credit card) and a wife in tow. He
appreciated quality when he saw it and listened to my advice. It was good
advice because there was no conflict between recommending what I genuinely
think to be the best and what would earn me good money.
He ordered a product that I am delighted to recommend and he paid the
delivery charge and extended warranty with hardly a murmur. If he had
played tough with me I could have given him a discount equivalent to a
night in a country hotel or three bottles of champagne from the supermarket
and still made a good amount for myself. There is something not right
there.
Most top brands use the quality strategy; make a genuinely better product,
charge a premium price to allow good commission and profit but not so
high as to make the overall proposition to the customer too expensive,
it is a fine line but it can be achieved. Spend an extra 15% on making
it better, charge 30% more, and everybody is a winner as long as the extra
expenditure on design and engineering actually achieves a real benefit
to the customer.
In this world the meek not only have no chance of inheriting the world,
if they want anything in life they will have to pay full retail price.
Some people go their whole life under-delivering, over-charging for all
their goods and their "expertise" and paying only discounted prices. These
people are known as capitalists. The other people over-deliver, demand
less than their real worth as wages and pay full retail price every time
without complaint. Which group really make the world go round?
Another interesting question, when does a piece of old junk become an
antique? The moment AFTER an antique dealer has bought it. Have you ever
seen signs like these;
Finest Antiques Sold.
Highest prices offered for bric-a-brac and scrap jewellery.
Apparently there is a real antique dealer in Southport who proudly proclaims
his name over his shop, the very appropriate Robin Bastard.
Martin
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